Tag Archives: rotc

The Associated Press tried to update the story from February in which Brigham Young University’s Air Force ROTC program was reportedly in peril because the new commander declined to accept BYU’s restrictions on his caffeine intake at his house.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Brigham Young University’s newest ROTC instructor, US Air Force Col Timothy “Raptor” Hogan, objected to BYU’s required moral code — which is required for him to be recognized as a faculty member, and which BYU refused to waive:

BYU is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Students and faculty are required to adhere to prohibitions against alcohol, drugs, coffee, premarital sex and other activities contrary to the beliefs of the faith. The U.S. military assigns instructors to ROTC programs…

“I told the (university) president in an interview that I would Read more

Every summer US Air Force Academy and select ROTC cadets trudge through the forests west of USAFA conducting Combat Survival Training (CST). They’re taught basic survival skills as well as navigation and night travel, as might occur if they were on the ground in hostile territory.

As part of this training, cadets are expected to kill and eat — or “thump and muck,” as the trainers sometimes say — rabbits, which are provided by the school for that purpose [emphasis added]:

The academy program has been around since the 1960s and trains cadets how to live in the wilderness and evade enemy forces. It stems from an older Air Force Survival, Escape, Resistance and Evasion program that’s has been used to train flight crews since World War II.

As part of the program, cadets are trained to kill and cook their own food under primitive conditions.

Update: Frank Wolf, a former Congressman and current Wilson Chair in Religious Freedom at Baylor University, says Singh’s victory (which relied upon the Religious Freedom Restoration Act being applied to the US military) could potentially open a “new chapter for religious freedom in the military,” a sentiment echoed by A. Barton Hinkle at Reason.com.

Iknoor Singh, a Sikh student at Hofstra University, will be allowed to wear the articles of his faith in a military uniform after a Federal court ruled (PDF) the Army must accommodate his beliefs. In short,

The Court finds that defendants have failed to show that the application of the Army’s regulations to this plaintiff and the denial of the particular religious accommodation he seeks further a compelling government interest by the least restrictive means.

If you want to be a pilot, you need to get into one of the officer accession programs: USAFA, ROTC, or OTS. These all have application processes that will eventually require an interview. (This interview is not the same thing as “talking to a recruiter.”) Your basic qualifications (GPA, extracurricular activities, etc.) will stand on their own merits. The point of the interview is for an officer to get a sense of your “potential in terms of motivation, goals, leadership ability, communication skills, adaptability, and other qualities.” You need to approach that interview like it’s the most important job interview you’ll ever do. Your interview for Home Depot may determine whether or not you work this summer. This interview helps determine what you could be doing for the rest of your life.

For USAFA and ROTC, the application/interview will only get you into the program. Two to four years later, prior to your graduation, you will compete for pilot slots among your peers. There is no interview process then; it’s just a big computer in the sky determining who is the most qualified. (Part of that determination, though, is the input of your unit’s commander. They will rank their cadets at some point; if you’re at the top, it’s more likely you’ll get your choice. If not…) The down side of this means you will have a commitment in the Air Force before you know whether or not you’ll be a pilot.

For OTS, it’s possible that you could be offered an OTS slot with a guaranteed job, contingent upon your completion of OTS three months later.

The ROTC and USAFA processes can actually be begun online, and you should never have to talk to a recruiter. For OTS, there does not appear to be an online option, and the listed point of contact is “your local recruiter.” Walk into their office and ask for an application to OTS. There’s no need to let them try to talk you into anything else, nor do you need to convince them of what you want. Just ask them how to start the application process. [If they’re honest, they’ll be more than willing to help you get what you need, and it shouldn’t be a problem.] You can call them back later if you have questions on the form, and you’ll probably have to go back for your interview.

Have ready answers to the questions you know he’ll ask: (Write the answers to these questions out and practice delivering them. They don’t need to be memorized, but you need to have coherent, well thought-out answers that you can clearly communicate.)

Why do you want to be in the Air Force? Why not the Army/Navy/Coast Guard?

Why do you want to be an officer? Why not enlist?

What do you want to do in the Air Force?

Do you know what pilots do in the Air Force?

You want to fly the F-22? Why? (Better have something other than “its cool.”)

Do you plan on having a family? How many kids?

Do you know how long pilots are deployed in the Air Force?

Do you know what the AF is doing right now? (Hint: Read the news.)

If you can’t be a pilot, would you be happy doing something else in the Air Force? What would that be?

Remember you can always attend ROTC, even if you don’t get a scholarship. You’ll still compete with the other ROTC cadets near graduation for the same jobs. You do incur a service commitment if you do the last two years (junior/senior) of ROTC, even if you don’t have a scholarship.

An Army article covering the commissioning of Clemson University ROTC graduates noted that their ceremony ended with a “Silver Dollar Salute ceremony”, encapsulating a tradition involving a young officer’s first salute: Read more

In March, the Air Force announced it had selected 87 company grade officers for Undergraduate Flying Training (UFT). UFT in Air Force parlance includes training for pilots, UAV operators, systems operators, and Air Battle Managers.

The Air Force does not release the numbers of total applicants, though it seems reasonable to conclude a few hundred applied. As the selectees were divided into a further four groups, only one of which was pilots, it seems the pilot track in the Air Force remains quite difficult to enter from active duty.